


Five Times Michael Knight Talked About Love (And One Time He Didn't Have To)

by prairiecrow



Category: Knight Rider (1982)
Genre: Established Relationship, Friendship/Love, Innocence, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 14:15:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/610714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prairiecrow/pseuds/prairiecrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For KITT, everything is part of the learning process. It just takes Michael a while to catch on to what's being taught.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times Michael Knight Talked About Love (And One Time He Didn't Have To)

1. 

 _"Michael?"_  

"Yeah, buddy?" 

 _"What is love?"_   

The innocent question caught him by surprise as he was getting ready to open the car door and go to his motel room; he'd only been working with KITT for two months and he still wasn't used to the comlink picking up every conversation he had, with anyone. A bit of mental backtracking pinned the moment that must have stuck in KITT's eidetic memory and prompted the inquiry. Two days ago. A small town in Montana. Gratitude warmly and _very_ sweetly expressed. 

He smiled, a little deliriously. "Love, KITT, is a fine young woman named Pamela Watson and a pair of legs that go on for miles." 

 _"I see,"_ KITT said after a couple of second's pause. The pause said, plain as plain, that he did not — but he understood enough to know that he wasn't going to get a clearer answer out of his partner, who had three beers under his belt and a soft pillow in his immediate future. _"Thank you, Michael. That's… most thought-provoking."_  

Michael grinned, and patted his car on the roof as he got out, and went happily and thoughtlessly to bed.

****************************************** 

2. 

 _"Michael?"_  

"Yeah, KITT?" 

 _"I'm curious… what_ ** _is_** _love?"_  

This time Michael thought about it for a long moment. He'd been working with KITT for almost nine months, and he'd learned enough that he no longer brushed the computer's questions off as idle or insignificant. 

"Well, that's kind of hard to explain," he said at last. "I guess you could say that love is one of the great mysteries of the human condition. People have been trying to explain it for thousands of years, and I don't think anybody's come up with a definitive answer yet." 

 _"So you're saying that not even humans can explain a phenomenon that impacts their lives so profoundly?"_  

He smiled and gave the car a little bit more gas, briefly kicking their speed up a few miles per hour — the equivalent of a pat on the shoulder for KITT. "I'd say that pretty much covers it." 

 _"How disappointing,"_ KITT remarked. _"And, I imagine, immensely frustrating for those unfortunate enough to experience it."_  

"Oh, you have _no_ idea," Michael muttered, his mind flying back to a certain girl he'd had to leave behind two missions ago, a petite redhead with fiery blue eyes and throaty laughter that had thrilled up and down his spine. 

 _"You're quite right,"_ KITT responded laconically. _"I do not."_  

"Be grateful for small favours, pal. Be grateful for small favours."

****************************************** 

3. 

 _"Michael?"_  

"Mm?" He was only about one-eighth awake. Even cruising down a desert highway on a chilly winter night, KITT's drivers seat was amazingly comfortable, his passenger compartment controlled to just the right temperature to encourage restful slumber 

 _"Why were you moaning that female name in your sleep?"_  

It took a couple of seconds for the meaning of the words to sink in. When they did, he winced and groaned and threw his left forearm over his eyes. "KITT…" 

 _"Your diction was less clear than normal, but I believe the name was Abani."_ He sounded vitally interested. Of course he was. KITT was vitally interested in everything… _"Could it have possibly referred to Abani Rajapesh, the daughter of the prominent industrialist we recently —?"_  

"Yes," he gritted out between clenched teeth. "That's her. Can we drop the subject?" 

 _"I simply find it curious that you would call out her name in your sleep when she's not —"_  

"I miss her, KITT. All right?" 

 _"Do you love her?"_  

Dammit, one of these days he'd get to the point where KITT couldn't lead him into a blind arroyo and bushwhack him so hard he saw stars. A year and a half of working together should have taught him that particular lesson by now. He opened his eyes and shifted his arm enough that he could stare at the ceiling directly overhead. "…If I tell you, will you let me get back to sleep?" 

 _"I wouldn't dream of preventing you from getting sufficient rest,"_ KITT punned dryly. The bastard. 

He drew a deep breath, marshalling his resources. "Abani was… an amazing woman. Intelligent, brave, gorgeous… definitely gorgeous…" 

 _"But?"_  

"But, what?" 

Silence that nonetheless clearly conveyed the thought: _Oh, come_ ** _on_** _, Michael…_  

He stared at the ceiling, which stared blankly back at him. "I have a job to do." 

 _"And that's more important than love?"_  

Sigh. Eyes closed. "Under certain conditions, yes. Including these ones. Goodnight, KITT." 

 _"Goodnight, Michael."_  

He snuggled back into the padded seat that was contoured specifically for his body, and sleep reclaimed him within seconds.

****************************************** 

4. 

 _"KITT!"_  

He skidded down toward the edge of the acid pit, the stench of it hitting him in the face like a cloying wall. KITT was still crying his name, clearly dying, and — 

He tried to edge closer. He couldn't. Poisonous vapour burned his lungs and stung in his eyes. Not tears. Not yet, even though he knew — 

He _knew_. And he felt like he was in that lethal pit himself, venomous dread consuming his living heart. 

And still KITT was begging him for help in a terrible drowning voice. Help he couldn't give. "I can't, buddy," he moaned, reaching out toward the sinking car's rapidly disappearing prow. "I can't —!" 

Fran was pulling at his hand, trying to drag him away. Nothing he could do except choke out a fervent promise: "I'll be back — I'll be back —!" 

He turned and ran, taking the person he could save, leaving half of himself behind.

****************************************** 

5. 

 _"Michael…"_ KITT's voice was still half dead, but Michael thought he could detect a brighter note beneath its flattened tones. _"What… is love?…"_  

The question surprised him all over again, although random queries had been popping up all evening. He glanced around the lab, where he'd been sitting for the past two hours talking to KITT's partially rebuilt mind. Bonnie had said that listening to stories of his past would help him reintegrate his cognitive elements, so Michael had rambled on about everything he could think of — nearly thirty months of daring escapades, Pursuit modes and turbo boosts, and enough lectures on various subjects to set KITT up as a professor at any reputable university on the continent — or maybe as the moral watchdog of your average small Midwestern town. 

But there was one story he hadn't told yet. Nobody from the reconstruction team was nearby at the moment, so he reached out and laid his hand on top of the portable CPU unit, and he smiled at the visual sensor oriented in his direction. "Let me tell you about the time a man named Graham Dauville tried to order you to kill me — and got a lot more than he bargained for…" 

KITT listened silently. Michael could only hope that on some level, he also understood.

****************************************** 

6.  

He slid into the car. He laid his hands on the steering yoke. He smiled, and the perfect body and graceful soul under his command responded instantly, wordlessly, to his touch. Onto the road and picking up speed, they soared beneath an endless sky. 

They didn't talk about it anymore. 

They had learned enough — about themselves and about each other — that questions were no longer necessary. 

THE END


End file.
